Films From the World Cinema Project

The Foundation’s World Cinema Project is dedicated to preserving and restoring neglected films from around the world. To date, 24 films from Mexico, South America, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Central and Southeast Asia, have been restored. This mini-season offers a rare opportunity to experience the rich diversity of these films.

The Law Of The Border (Hudutlarin Kannu)

The film is set in the Southeast border region of Turkey, where poverty and lack of resources drive people to the ‘law of the border’, smuggling. Hidir (Yilmaz Güney) is a powerful centre to the film, an expert in defeating the army’s methods of restricting border crossings. Such naturalistic performances were to make writer, actor, director Güney the most popular star in Turkish cinema.

Sunday, 10 January at 4.30pm

The Night Of Counting The Years (a.k.a. The Mummy / Al-Mummia)

An isolated mountain tribe is secretly selling off ancient artifacts from the tombs of the Pharaohs. The elders justify the looting of their own culture as necessary to sustain the people (as well as enrich themselves), but the young men are appalled at the desecration of their ancestors.

Sunday, 17 January at 4.30pm

Insiang

Insiang lives with her mother Tonya and does laundry for a living. She has long been abandoned by her father, and her mother has taken up with local gangster Dado. Insiang dreams of escape as she tries to fight off Dados advances. This exacerbates a rivalry between mother and daughter that reaches Shakespearean proportions.

Sunday, 24 January at 4.30pm

A Brighter Summer Day (Gu ling jie shao nian sha ren shi jian)

The film chronicles the social uncertainty and cultural fracture of transplanted Chinese as they attempt to rebuild their lives in recently created Taiwan, focusing on 14 year old S’ir and his family as he comes of age amidst rival street gangs and the ‘White Terror’ witch hunts of Chiang Kai-shek’s government.

Please note: Due to its long running time, the screening will begin at 2.00pm on Sunday, 31 January.